Tag: Easy and Quick

Chili—the soupy, saucy hot meal—is made a thousand ways. And countless eaters have enjoyed the many versions of this classic stew.

From chili contests at block parties to your family recipe passed down through generations, we’ve all probably crossed paths with someone claiming their chili is the best. They may even brandish a trophy or two to prove their chili-cooking skills.

If you are trying to climb the ladder to reach chili royalty, or are just trying to keep yourself fed over a lazy weekend, Reddit users shared their secret ingredients to the best chili, and they are worth considering. While plenty of the suggestions will interest a curious cook, one ingredient stands out among the rest: black garlic.

“Black garlic is pure umami and tastes nothing like garlic,” says user ebrius, referring to the basic savory taste that some foods are known for. “I’d describe it as having a sweet, almost molasses-like flavor.”

Umami is considered one of the basic tastes in food, along with sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Often considered a flavor booster, adding an umami component like black garlic to chili would help each part of the dish sing a little more.

Allrecipes

Has this ever happened to you? You reach for the brown sugar in your pantry only to find it’s turned into a rock-hard lump. Don’t panic. There are 5 simple ways to soften brown sugar: in the microwave, in the oven, with a slice of bread, with an apple slice, and with terracotta. Read on to learn more about each method and also get tips for storing brown sugar so it’s always fluffy and ready to use.

Allrecipes

A Greek salad is the ultimate summer dish. It’s cool, crisp, and refreshing, and cuts through any rich BBQ dish you just took off the grill.

Best of all, the recipe is unbelievably simple. I suspect you could whip it up without a recipe at all. But, what if I told you that you’ve probably been making Greek salad wrong all along? 

Most of the classic components are the same—tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, and olives. But one significant difference sets an authentic Greek salad apart from the popularized version you eat at your local lunch spot—there is no vinegar or lemon juice in the dressing. 

My mind was blown when Allrecipes Editorial Director and Greek cuisine expert Diana Moutsopoulos shared this food knowledge with me. “Lemon juice? That sounds disgusting,” she said.

Wait, what? Isn’t that pop of acidity crucial to making the medley of flavors sing?

Well, not exactly. In traditional Greek cooking, there is a way to give the fresh vegetable dish a rounder, softer pop of flavor that isn’t as astringent as a shot of red wine vinegar, and in it lies the real beauty of the famed Mediterranean dish. 

Hint: It doesn’t require any extra ingredients at all.

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